Radio and 'The Youth'.

One of the most intractable problems with amateur radio is how to make the hobby appealing to those who are much younger than the typical operator.

A survey conducted in 2015 by the RSGB (fairly recently removed from their web site), found the typical operator in the UK was highly skewed towards the late middle age and retired groups.  There were essentially no members in the teenager to young adult cohort.

The problem is difficult to crack because not only is radio a niche, technical hobby, but also that the people charged with solving the problem - if indeed they really are passionate about cracking the problem at all - are themselves the white, middle class, retired people that typify the membership.

Now, my daughter passed her MW6 Foundation call sign at the age of 11.  She quite enjoyed studying the simple course, helped along by friendly, local club members.  But she has never really taken much of an interest in operating.

SSB is a killer for a youngster, as many older men find talking to a youngster highly difficult and not the kind of slow-paced, three hour long discussion about an RX-210s valve that they managed to find for their ageing RT-999 transceiver.  Sadly, some are rude and don't continue the conversation when they realise the other operator is young.  A very few are friendly and try to at least say words of encouragement.

So, imagine my delight last evening, when I dimmed the lights, tuned in to Radio Uganda with the SDRPlay RSP1a receiver, and placed the earphones on my daughter's head.  Click!  You could see the mind focus its attention and imagination on what was coming through (inevitably, it was 'Praise the Lord Jesus' stuff).  I showed her that peaks meant radio stations, and off she went on her own, exploring the SW world.  This is a lot more interest than the amateur radio licence ever generated.

Encouraging signs...

That's a very big hint on what youngsters find appealing. They want to know about the world, and SW radio brings them, as it did all of us, a different perspective from that which we are fed via domestic TV, radio and the internet.  Arguably, with the internet AIs deciding for us what we should see and hear, SW radio returns the decisions on what we want to know back to us.  Sure, most SW stations are propaganda disseminators, they always have been.  But at least we know that, can see in total what is on offer, and can pick what propaganda we want to listen to on any given day.

I've made the argument on various Facebook groups that RSP1a receivers or similar units should really be sent out to schools under some grant-funded project operated by national societies.  It may appear there is no money, but the likes of the RSGB are linked to various charitable spin-offs, some of which pay their managers quite handsomely (the RSGB itself paid its General Manager,until recently, over £60,000 per annum (and refused to say what the exact salary was)).

So there is plenty of money to buy a bulk order of SDRs and send them out to schools - if we have the real intention of turning back the tide of a membership profile that is getting older with each passing year.

It won't be easy, because schools are very closed communities that, these days, are more concerned with 'security' and 'safety' than engaging with the wider community in a rational, simple way.  They may well welcome very much someone giving them an SDR, but will they allow someone to install a wire antenna for it?  Will they allow someone to demonstrate it?  Will they simply use it for a month and then forget it, because the curriculum is just so busy and there's no time, blah, blah, blah?

That is why we need a recognised organisation behind any such promotion.  I hope the RSGB and others take the hint and actually do more than just run workshops for those who already have a Foundation licence.  That is just easy preaching to the converted.